


Summer in Indiana

by SarahWritesThings



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Alpha Quadrant Happiness, F/M, Fluff, Humor, One-Shot, Phoebe is the best wing woman ever, Post-Episode: s07e25 Endgame (Star Trek: Voyager), Romance, it's been six months and Phoebe is desperate, they've been pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-27 09:36:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19788172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SarahWritesThings/pseuds/SarahWritesThings
Summary: Phoebe takes it upon herself to give Chakotay a push - or a shove - in the right direction.





	Summer in Indiana

**Author's Note:**

> I reread ["Turn Your Face"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18888487) and I was sad at the thought of Janeway and Chakotay never getting together, so then I had to fix it. (Yes, I wrote a "fix it" piece for my own fic.) Phoebe Janeway is now a manifestation of my desperate need for these two to be happy together. I regret nothing.

The sharp knock on the door made Phoebe look up from the cookbook she was flipping through. She peered the front door to see the frame of _Voyager_ ’s former-first officer standing on her doorstep, shifting from foot to foot as he watched the Indiana sunset.

She opened the door and beamed at him, “Chakotay! This is a surprise, Katie said you weren’t back in the sector until Friday.”

“That was the plan, but I made it back early….uh.” He blinked at her, “Gretchen told me that Kathryn was visiting you for the day?”

“That’s right! Katie’s in the garden with my little terrors. I’m just making dinner, you’re welcome to join us.” Phoebe gestured vaguely behind her.

He shifted, looking over his shoulder before turning back, “I really don’t want to put you out, I could come back later, or tomorrow...”

“Nonsense, Katie’s missed you, and I think she’d phaser me if she found out you came by and I didn’t keep you hostage until she talked to you.” She grinned at him, then turned around to move back into the kitchen, “c’mon, if you’re scared of my kids you can help me cook. Katie says you’re quite good at it.”

Chakotay seemed too shocked by the Janeway willpower to argue, and instead followed her back through the house. Somehow, in the six months they had been back in the Alpha Quadrant, Chakotay had never been to Phoebe’s country house, the same home Kathryn had grown up in. He smiled at the pictures lining the walls of the family home, including several of Kathryn herself, both as a child and some more recent ones, taken in the six months since _Voyager_ had returned.

The whole place was warm and inviting, just like Kathryn herself.

Looking out the kitchen window, Chakotay spotted her playing in the garden with Phoebe’s three sons. As he watched, she laughed, chasing the largest of the boys around a tree, as the smaller two followed jovially.

“How has she been?”

The sound of chopping started behind him. “Shouldn’t you ask her that yourself?”

“Oh, I will,” he turned to look at her, leaning on the counter, “but, knowing Kathryn, she’ll say she’s fine no matter what’s really going on. I thought you might give me a better insight.”

Phoebe paused, glancing up at him, “she misses Voyager.”

“That’s a pretty common theme among the entire crew.”

“I’m sure.” She sighed and continued her cooking, ”I think she feels guilty for missing it when everybody’s so happy to have the crew back in the Alpha Quadrant.”

“I thought that would happen.”

“You did?”

“To quote a friend,” Chakotay grimaced, “guilt’s been Kathryn’s constant companion, especially since we ended up in the Alpha Quadrant. It’s…came up on more than one occasion.”

“It ‘came up’?”

“During our adventure.”

Phoebe deadpanned, “is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

Chakotay turned to look at her and began to laugh. Phoebe smirked at his response, turning back to her vegetables.

“You know, every time I visit you or Gretchen, I’m reminded how much wit runs in the Janeway family. You and Kathryn have the exact same sense of humor.”

“For one, I’m much more interesting,” she replied with that familiar twinkle in her eye.

“Mind if I grab a drink?”

“Damn, my mom would be furious if she knew I was such a bad host. Cabinet next to the sink.

He reached for a glass, filling it with water, “it’s no problem. You’re busy cooking. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“That’s quite alright, I’m happy just having some company, anyway.”

“Well then,” Chakotay plopped himself into a seat next to where she was standing, “I’m happy to oblige.”

Phoebe paused, looking him up and down. “You know, Chakotay, you’re nothing like I thought you’d be?”

“Am I not?”

“No, I expected to brilliant Captain of the Maquis ship to be ruthless, maybe a little desperate. You’re too kind for that.”

He placed his hand on his chest in mock offense, “well you only met me after we’d spent seven years in the Delta Quadrant, maybe I was _ruthless_ before that.”

“Absolutely not. Kathryn’s told me too much about you. Besides, your dimples are a dead giveaway.”

“A give away?”

“You’re just a big teddy bear.”

Chakotay threw back his head laughing. He shook his head and reached for his glass again.

“You know, I can see why Kathryn’s in love with you.”

He nearly choked on his sip of water, “excuse me?”

She sighed and placed her hands on her hips, a trait he had learned came from their mother. “Kathryn’s in love with you. She’s been in love with you for a long time.”

Blinking back his shock, Chakotay set down his glass. Carefully, tentatively, he responded, “I know.”

“You know?”

“She told me, a long time ago, when we were stranded on New Earth together.”

“I KNEW IT!” She began to jump like a child. “She told me nothing happened when you were on that planet together, but I knew something had to have! They way she talks about you, she had to have acted on her feelings!”

“Actually, I was the one who ‘made a move’, as Tom Paris would say.”

“Seriously?”

He rubbed his hands together, gently. “Yes….I thought Kathryn might be too afraid to take the first step, as she was my commanding officer.”

“And?”

“I was right.”

“You were right?”

Chakotay sighed, “you have to remember, Kathryn clung to Starfleet principle for a reason. There were less than 150 Starfleet officers in the Delta Quadrant. She was the highest ranking officer for 70,000 lightyears.”

“So, what changed?”

“What do you mean?”

Phoebe sat in the chair next to him, crossing her arms on the counter. “I know you two never got together while you were out there, but now you’re happily chatting to me in the kitchen, which she’s just outside the door. Something has to have changed.”

“We’re not in the Delta Quadrant anymore.”

“No, you’re not.”

“And she’s not my commanding officer anymore.”

Phoebe eyed him carefully, “and?”

“And I think it’s time to be brave.”

She grinned, “so what’s your plan?”

“My plan?”

“Do you not have a fancy plan to woo her again? To convince her that you still love her?”

“Part of me has just been hoping that she knows I still love her, somewhere deep down.”

“She might not. I saw that blonde bimbo on your arm at all the homecoming events.”

He rested his head in his hands. “Oh god not you too, B’Elanna’s already chewed my ear off about this.”

“Well you deserve it. Are you going to tell me Seven was a mistake?”

“No…but she’s not Kathryn.”

“Damn right she isn’t.”

Chakotay blinked at her, “so what am I supposed to say to her?”

Phoebe’s lips twitched slightly, “well, you could start with a marriage proposal.”

He glared at her, but his response was cut off.

“Chakotay? What are you doing here?”

They both spun around to see the elder Janeway sister standing in the doorway. She looked more relaxed in a sundress, with a smile of her face and her smallest nephew on her hip. This wasn’t Captain Janeway, this was _Kathryn_ , the woman Chakotay had met and loved with on New Earth.

Phoebe took charge. “As a matter of fact, he came to see you, Katie. So, I will spare you the torture of trying to feed an army of small children, and you two can go have a nice walk down to the orchard!”

Chakotay chuckled, and Phoebe smiled widely at him as she directed her sons to the table.

“ _Besides_ , I think Chakotay has something he wants to talk to you about.”

Kathryn blinked, looking back and forth between the two of them. “Is there something I should know?”

Phoebe giggled, “absolutely not, now go one you two!” She shoed them out the door, “and have fun!”

Chakotay stumbled out the door, following closely behind Kathryn, who looked up at him with wide eyes, searching his for some kind of explanation.

He chuckled, looking down at her, “you know, I’m starting to think I’m no match for Janeway woman.”

She beamed at him. “Oh, I don’t know, I think you could take down Molly, if push comes to shove.”

“No way, Molly may be old, but she’s got claws.”

Kathryn’s eyes were full of shining warmth as she laughed gently. She seemed more relaxed that he had seen her in long time. Her shoulders were relaxed, her skin sun-kissed after half a summer in the sun.

She took a step back, searching his face for explanation, but Chakotay gently steered her away from the house, “so, where’s this orchard I’m supposed to go see?”

“You’re not going to tell me what that was about?”

“No,” he smirked, “not yet, anyway.”

“Yet? Is something dramatic about to happen?” She stopped, turning to face him. Her eyes were ablaze with mystery and adventure, as he had seen then so many times on _Voyager_.

So Chakotay kept his voice light, “it could, I suppose you’ll just have to wait and see.”

“You know I’ve never been good at waiting.”

“No problem, for now you just need to lead me. Where are we headed?”

She rolled her eyes spectacularly, “the orchard’s just down the way. Follow me, _Captain_ Chakotay.”

Deciding to make the leap, Chakotay took her hand.

“Aye aye, _Admiral_.”


End file.
